Top Minnesota Basketball Teams Show Dominance over Sioux Falls

Hopkins and St. Michael-Albertville came to Sioux Falls this past weekend and left a perfect 3-0.

O'Gorman (AA #1) and Lincoln (AA #3) had tough tasks in front of them this weekend hosting two of the top teams out of Minnesota. Lincoln battled both Hopkins and St. Michael-Albertville, while O'Gorman took on Hopkins at the Sanford Pentagon.

Lincoln started their Friday night game against Hopkins on a 7-0 run, but the Royals quickly took back over. Paige Bueckers (#1 overall recruit for the class of 2020) and Dlayla Chakolis started knocking down opportunities and scored a combined 42 points. Hopkins went on to win 80-42.

The Patriots returned to the Pentagon the next day against St. Michael-Albertville. STMA opened with a 17-8 first quarter and went on to win 75-33. Lincoln was held to under 10 points in three of the four quarters.

O'Gorman suffered a similar fate against Hopkins. Bueckers dropped 30 points in the Royals 81-47 victory. The Knights never held the lead or tied the game, and were held to under 10 points in two quarters.

Overall the three games ended with a combined 236-122 margin for the Minnesota schools. The aggressive nature of those two teams compared to teams in South Dakota is on a different level. The depth is also among one of the more impressive things on display this weekend. Both Hopkins and STMA were working in multiple 8th and 9th graders into the varsity lineup. They outrebounded O'Gorman and Lincoln in all three games, and the assist totals were also heavily in favor of the Minnesota schools. Overall, every facet of the game was controlled by Hopkins and STMA.

Many of the local Sioux Falls coaches would tell you that they prefer to fill their schedule openings with games against the top opponents that they can find. Other schools around South Dakota at times don't try to do the same thing. While this ended up being a bit more of a humbling experience for both teams, it was also used as a growing experience with the idea being to get to that level.